The Sun. — London, England, 1808-12-23 00:00:00

plain of the calumnies' that are heaped upon them. We neecl.only refer, fora proof of our assertion, to the. language they have held,• and the conduct they have pursued, since the commencement of the ; present . contest in Spain. - When the Spaniards first began to manifest a disposition to resist the treacherous Schemes Of BUONAPARTE, and the Ministers of this Country, dis Played a wish to aid' them in' their glorious cause, what was the language of many of s s the :Opposition here ?. that- of encouragement to a people determined to struggle . for their liberty ? No ! s.- seatfeaed expressions of concern for the danger to os . hich they' were exposing themselves, and the most holernn advice to Ministers not to instigate the peo . Ple„of Spain to as resistance which might be ulti anately fatal l,ssThis language, however, was fdund • to b p : so repugnant to the general feeling which per- Vadedthe Country, that it was soon 'abandoned, and the Opposition Writers set themselves seriously to ;Work, to instrua Ministers in 'the manner in which they were to assist the Spanish Cause ; and above all things, they were enjoined, not to offend the Pride, ott•excite the jealousy of the Spaniards, but t() Terinit the Provisional Government of Spain to • regUlate the time, the manner, and the extent of our . s " .l stalsoe. As soonas•they had favoured his• Ma- Jesty's Mioisters with instructions upon this essen tial point ; they begsn, with great industry, to abuse them for having, in compliance with the . wishes and advice of She Spanish government„ sent a British .Artny to Portugal rather than to Spain ! If we were •to attempt to detail the• assertions, the retra&ations, the contradiCtions, we have witnessed upon the sub . Jeot of the Convention of Cintra, our task would be endless. Sir Hew DALRYMPLE, at one time, loaded with every species of reproach, made the daily Sub let:l of paragraphs and epigrams; and afterwards declared, by the very, same persons,• to be wholly • free from blame !' Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY,- first loudly praised for his skill and bravery 'in the bat , Iles of Roliea and Vitneira, then represented as only ft to' regulate 'the Corporatiou of &Alin; and, lastly, 'when the real fads of the case carne out in . the Court of Inquiry, honoured by those candid Gentleme n w i t h a kind of sullen acquittal ! .But .whateser inconsistency or contradiction these gentlemen may. be guilty of, - in speaking of the Go . vernment of this Country, they are certainly uni formly consistent, when speaking of BUONAYARTE his skill, his promptitude, his energy f , his are the con stant t h emes of declarnation ; and with great dexterity, their own. panegyrics upon this' m an :are represented n the public opinion.—" A weak and superstitious notion," we are told, is gone forth, that it is as vain to resist the arms 4FETJOIC APtCRTBAs. •O m the decre es o f Fule."‘pyr Wh o m was this opi- N nionadVanced—by whom is it propagated—by whom it entertained ? Bjthe Government, by the People of this Country—by our Army or Navy ?No !—by thosomen, and by those men only, who now affect to regret that such an opinion should exist ! What 6Pportunity have they omitted of praising the mili tary skill of BUONAPARTE ? when did they lose an occasion of extolling the superiority of the French letions, although they have never come within the reachof British bayonets without flying with dis... grace, But it is not enough to abuse the Govern- Mem of this Country, and to praise the skill and .energyof BUONAPARTE, a new theme for lamentation and declamation has been opened, and we are told, w ith deep concern, and with the utmost reluaance,t hat `` . the accounts which have been received atirough Inii)ate .channels,, from Spain, do not justify, to t he full extent, the terms of His Majesty's Declara tion,", and ‘that " the spirit of resistance which has manifested itself has been almost wholly con fined to the inhabitants of towns, and to Me Monies, bat that a great proportion of the proprietors of the soil and the peasantry hav e to this day remained tranquil speEtators of the eonfliel. - If this were true, we should be incline,d to think that the p . m- Plielors of the soil in Spain. were very much like thy • People, whO called themselves the. patriots of the soil ) ..n this Country; but we know. there is no founda- • tion for this libel upon the character of the people'' Spain. We should ,be glad to know something .tf these private amounts, and of the authors of them: do fhey come via Holland? What part of Spain do they come from ? Had the writers of ti:Lie accounts the, means of fOlTniOg a judgment upon the feelings and conduct of that people, whose character they .thb's traduce ? We have aright to ask these questions, and to expel an answer, when such an attempt is 'bade to vilify a gallant and high-spirited peopl e , fighting * for their .independenne. Granting, how' . e ver, for a moment, that this calumny upon the ch araCter - of the Spaniards were true, with what,pro- Priety, With what consistency, can th e men who • It'll' us that the spirit of patriotism in Spain, is con fined to the inhabitants of towns, and to the Monks, - an d that the proprietors of the soil and the peasantry 100 k with inditterenc e on the contest,--swith what propriety or consistency, we Sa e ew > l y, „ca n , theSe men are - rvlinisteri for not niaking- greater exertions 111' tile — eel:use of a I ti e•majority •of wh om peop e, they assert are willing to. receive the chains of the Tyrant ? We confess we read this sentence With deep regret ; we did nor expect that while •BUONAPARTE was aiming a viral blow at the liherty and indL pendence of the Spaniards,aliatan attack would be made in this Country upon their honour and their charatter, and that an attempt would be made, it not to justify, at least palliate, BUONAPARTE' s treachery, by representing the majority of the people of Spain as willing sl i aves. IWe should be glad to ask our •opporients hoW it happens that they display so much credulity when any statement is made that is disadvantageous either to Britain or her Allies, and are So obstinately • sceptical when they are called upon to exercise their judgment upon any details that bear hard upon the Enemy. Of the readiness of the Opposition to give credit to accounts unfavourable to our Allies, the Spaniards, we have already given a specimen ; we will now select one to prove the.other part of tonr . assertion. We on Wednesday laid before our Readers the Letters of the Captains of two American Vessels which had been captured and carried into ,Boulogne. What is the language of an Opposition Paper upon this piratical cmidiLa of the French—why,--" Per haps-it may be that these Americans have violated the restrictions of the Embargo." ." We must be informed of some additional circumstances before we can sup-' pose that NAeor.. , ,ox has completely changed hi s maxims of policy towards the Uo ited States, so as • to abandon all the advantages he derives from the oppressive system of marine regulation adopted here, which terminated in' his favourite measure of the Embargo." Without adverting to the excuse so gently insinuated for BUONAPARTE, that perhaps these Americans had violated the restrictions of the Embargo, we beg to ask what been the con duet 01 France to America for year back, but (with very few interruptions) one series of insults .and op pressions ? Have not American Ships been con stantly plundered, and often captured, by the French. Privateers in the West Indies ? Professions of friend ship, Mcleod, BUONAPARTE has made occasionally towards America, but his friendship has been eon fined to professions ;' his aggressions have been sub stantial ; and yet the Opposition Writers cannot be lieve that BUONAPARTE could be guilty of any aa of injustice towards the Americans. Thus lenient aro the Opposition Writers; but in speaking of the Go vernment of their own Country they show no suet' mercy. The French are not to blame; the Americans lire not to blame; it is to the oppressive system of ma rine regulation adopted here that all the mischief is' to be attributed. The faMous Decrees of BL'ONA PARTE which forced us, in our own defence, to adopt - measures - of retaliation, these Decrees which, even for a moment, ruffled the habitual serenity of Lord GREY, are either quite forgotten, or designedly passed over without notice. We.- could, if our li mits would permit us, pursue this subjed much far ther; but we think we have said enough tojustify us, if we ha ve occasionally applied th e ep i t he t etc- tious to our- opponents. We are not " indifferent to the weapons we use," but if our adversaries will furnish as with weapons, we certainly will employ L them. Yesterday a Cabinet Council was held at the Fo reign Office, at which were present his Grace the Duke of PORTLAND, the LORD CHANCELLOR, Earls CAMDE N and BATHURST, Lords MULGRAVE and CASTLEREAGH, Mr. Secretary CANNING, and Mr. PEUCEVAL. Yesterday Lord CASTLEREAGH transaeled business . with the Duke of Yoax, at his Office at the Horse Guards. The Milan Decree, under which it is supposed the recent seizures of Athorican ships took place in Farce, has not, as was tOrtnerly represented, been in any manner rendered less rigorous towards Ame ricans. Some few exceptions • have been made in favour of the Tunisian ling. We have been repeatedly told that Marslial BRUNE' had been poisoned, or destroyed by some means, by order Of BCONAPARTE a Gentleman who lett L'Orient, in the American Ship Union, asserts that he is living in splendour, a short distance from Paris. The French exhibit an extraordinary change in their charaater and conduCt, compared with what they _were a few years ago. They were then fight ing for what they . called liberty, and wanted to spread their notions of li - eedoin over all other States ; or, to adopt the words of one of 'their demagogues, " to set fire to the four corners of the world." Now they are not only submissive, to the extreme, to ar bitrary power, but are endeavouring .to reduce all othet States to the same ignominious bondage,— White Britain, nappy in her own poiitical syotew, which affords all the freedom consistent with social order, is not anxious tuproselyte othck States, but is at ail times ready to assist their struggles for maintain ing their independence aQd legitimme Government. As BUONAPARTE has thought proper to revive the old titles of Nobility in Franc®, that he may appear as much as he can like a legitimate monarch, it is surprising that he does not, upon the same principle, endeavour to acquire a little courtly breeding in his transactions. ‘vith other States ; at least; with one. Who . defies his power, and despises his, memices.— His final, answer to the Government, accord ing to report,, is characterized by all that vulgar pride and arrogance which denotes an upstart, in toxicated with unexpected authority. • - : • The two .new scenes prepared for the favourite Pantottrime:of r Goose; to be performed at the ,Hayniatket:Theatre, on Monday next, are the ruins 'of- the late Covent-Garden Theatre, and, 3 • viewipf the new Theatre, now building. I'4AV.A . L NEWS. PLYMOUTH, DEC. 21.—Camo :n the favourte, STROSU'„ from Stucklidm. Posa - smou'ru, Disc. - f2•2.--"--Arrived his Majesty's . . Ship Britemart, from the Downs and the Ocean, tjuickt.b, late a Transport, with the loss of anchors and cables, ha - ving been nearly on shore on the drench coast. Al:rived last night, at St. Helens, the Unio East Indianian, fro►Zi the Downs, with the losi of ancl,ors and, cables. YARMOUTH, Dic. 42.—Arrived his Majesty's Brig Censor front a cruize,and remains in the Roads with a Fleet of Ships of War, anci . SeVeral &c. with the loss of anchors and cables. Dac..2r)l.—Sailod his Majesty's Ship Eu• ryalus, on a cruize. Arrived hit Majesty's Ship Kangaroa, from a crui2e, and remain in the Downs with the rest of the Ships, aS.per last. ELECTION OF COMMON COUACIL. At the close of the second day's polling, in the several contested Wards, the ,numbers stood thus : FAR,RINGDoN wiTtiouT. Mr. Waithman - 246 Mr. Wright - - 1 94 *Crooke . -24 Harper - 194 Herring - *Miller - i s 7 Murrell - - 227 Dawson - - ;85 - • - 227 A. Young - - 180 T. Reeve - 169 I. W. Reeves - 22! R. Brewer - . 160 Sir 1. Branscowb - 210 1. Brewer . . 141 Nichols . - 210 FAR RI NG DC Mr. Daw - 153 Scatcheid - 153 Cathvell - - 1,9 Pritchaid - - 13 . ; Cooke - 131 Crowder - 123 Leigh - 123 *Winter - 12,8 IVheble - '9 BISHOPSGATI Mr. Dueffell - 217 Greenaway - 213 Sir W. Rawlins -21 u * ClukIL: - - 209 lV111:1US - 20 -1 Ross - 202 Nash - 20 , Clark - - - 162 CORDWAIN Mr. Ilamman - 69 Keinble . . - 63 G. A. Smith - - 67 Rowe - 64 IVatson - - 6o j Those marked thus * N Mr. Stokes - . 119 Lewis - Walker - - 1 07 Metcalf - - 10 7 Smith - Roberts - - 106 lames 'Smith - 163 John Smith . - 93 wiTI-IOt•r. _ - *.‘l r. White - 176 Knight - 164 - ts y Gough - - 1 4 i Gould - - 1.45 Poy utter - 1,8 * iceman - 81 ER WARD. Mr. Abbey - 59 Trinibey - 54 Hick - - 5L *Jones - 34 *Blake 28 are new Candidates. D CALCUTTA, MARCH 3.—A Barnayonne Dillee, with an European coachman and footman, both dres4ed out in the old Lil e glish style, with livery, wigs, laced hats, and lour inside passengers, has attracted considerable notice, and proved the source, of much ainusein,ent on the course for some evenings past ; and so well has this farce been conciliated, that the names of the ftetors have not been discovered, though . supposed to be some young 'officers belong ing to the ships new 'off town. AO Gentleman was landing, a few days ago, at Tankshall Ghaut, he observed several English seamen (belonging to one of the extra ships now lying in the river) bathing, and swimming about ; and imme diately warned them of the danger they exposed themselves to, from the numerous sharks - that generally frequented that place, •and strongly re commended their coining on shore; to which, most unfortunately, they paid little or no attention, further than by one of them saying, " Jack, what does that there gennnan with the white jacket say ?" which he had scarcely pronounced, when, dreadful to relate, one of his companions was seized by an enot mous shark, which almost instantaneously dragged him underwater, and he was never seen again, though every possible search was made. So powerful vas the monster, that a man who swam to the assistance of the unfortunate sufferer was, from tindeavouring to save him, nearly dragged with him under water. . - A grand Te Dem was performed y es t er d a y, at the Portuguese Ambassador's Chapel, in SOuth Audle'y-street, being the Anniversary of the Queen of Portugal's Bilth-day. In the evening his E;:c cellenoy.gave a grand dinkier at the Thatched Houser Tavern. The fall of snow has been very great in various parts of the kingdom. It tell with such rapidity on - the evening"of Friday, and the forenoon of Saturday -last;con the north-east and east coast of Yorkshire, as totally to suspend the progress of every kind 01J carriage. The mail reached Market-Weigh ton both on the nights of Sarurday and Sunday, from-. whence the bas were forwarded on horseback, and roached• Hull Safely, the' first on Sunday at halt past twelve, and tl,e second -on - Thursday at half past ten. The Guard, however, in returning, was from excessive fatigue so exhausted, as to be unable ro proceed further than Bishop-Burton. The.stage-coaches, says the Hull Paper of Tues day, have been since Sunday morning suspended, umir the roads are opened -between Weighton and Beverley; but the whoh-:, of this day (Tuesday) has been a contirnao fall, which will of course render that event. less -probable. The greatest weight of snow, according to the sante Paper, is on the East and North-east coasts, as the:London Mail reached VOlk. on Sunday evening last, at twenty minutes pas twelve, having experienced very little obstruc tion in its progress from the Sout.b...- • The storm of wind and snow was very violent in the neighbourhood of Sheffield. Th e d r iv er o f t h e Manchester Mail Coach to _Sheffield was. so frozen, in coming over the Moors, as to be unable to move from the box when he arrived at Ringinlow 'Bar : lie was taken into the houie, and after some time re . 'EcoiND •uITioN. NV's stop the Press for the purpo4e or 'comm.im ,. caring to our Readers the following importaht tion, which was made in the House. of 11 , :preg..n::.- . tires of the United States of America, for the of the Embargo: 50r.1.1.1■.,.. HOUSE OF kEPRLSEN rAThqs, Nov. to. EhIi3ARGO. Immediately on the meeting of the House— Mr. CHLTTENDEN said he rose with co , .siderable diffidence to otter to the House a Re , olm ion Q!! ihe subject of the Embargo. Having witnessed the f•k• - tugs heretofore exci!ed by a similar proposition a! laSt Session, he said he would assure Gewl, meri that he had no objeet in vievt , but to bring the 4-i) : jed before the House, and excite a fair and libel. 1 discussion. He had hoped that the situ vion Of affairs would would ere this have authorized the r- 1 of the Embargo. Disappointed in this, he felt it a duty which he owed to his constituents and to tl:e nation, to endeavour to elicit an cx r-i•foti opinion, of the lionse, to prevent ruinous specula.• tions, and to relieve the nation from suspense. The measure had now • nee!, in op 1,:lo r eleven months, and he had not perceived tl:e good effetis resulting from'it. The importance Of this subject, ins interesting nature to his con stituents, who in addition to the corn 'non sutferings, had the extreme mortification of being represented as in a state of insurreaion, must be an apol.,gy for his coming forward at this early period on the sub• jea of .the Embargo. He then offered the follow ing Resolution : " Resolved, That the A6t passed at the last Se. , - sion of Congress, entitled " An Act laying an Em bargo on all Ships and Vessels in the ports and ha.. bours of the United States, and the several Ads suPpleinentary and additional thereto'," ought to be immediately repealed." On the question whether the House will agree to consider the Resolution, it was decided by Yeas and Nays—Yeas 8 3—Nay s 9. It was then agreed to refer the Resolution to a Commmittee of the whole. On the question for what day it should be the order, Mr. CHITTENDEN moved to-morrJW. A Debate of considerable length took place upon this Motion, in the course of which Mr. ErrEs proposed the following Resolutions, as an amend ment to Mr. CHITTENDEN'S Motion. " Resolved, That from and after the . day of next, all intercourse between the United States and Great Britain, its Islands and DL:- pendencies, ought to cease and determine. " Resolved, That from and after the day of next, all intercourse between the United States and France,' its Islands and Dependen6es, ought to, cease and determine. " Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law for arming and equipping for immediate service thousand militia, in addition to the force already authorized by law." The Speaker then informed Mr. EPPES that thesq could not be received while another question was pending; and Mr. EPPES withdrew them for the present. The Resolution was then made the Order of the Day for Monday next. We have the satisfaaion to announce the safe ar rival of the Sir IPilliamPulteney on WednesclAy ternoon in Northfleet. Na accounts of the Union have been received at the India-House since she parted from her author and cables in Margate Roads, and was driven to sea on Sunday last. Of the Ceylon no accounts have been received since she parted wiih the Fleet recently arrhied;*:...ii - the Bay of Bengal, on the 4th of July in th e night. Nine packets from the Walpole, and three from the Sir William Pgiteney, have reached the India House. SMITHFIELD MARKET, DEC. 23. This day's:market had a tolerable good supply of different kinds of Cattle ; Beef, Mutton, Veal, and. Pork are cheaper than our last report, and the trade dor the most part' was rather fiat. The sales in the Haymarket were not lively ; Hay has fallen in price Monda's market; Straw and Clover sold at last 'prices. Corm EXCHANGE, DEC. , 23.---The Market to day is very thinly supplied with Wheat, and owyng to the appearance of the Thames, navigation being stopped, very few purchaseS are made, and those at about last prices ; Barley and Malt likewise ; very few White Pease, and those dearer; Beans of each kind at last currency ; there are . Iblerable supplies of Oats, and this 'trade is named a trifle higher ; Flour without vatiation. DISCOUNT ALLONYM) ON' LOTTERY Every Purchaser of Shares of Tickets; amounting /0 Five Pounds and upwards, will be allowed a Dis count, at J. WARNER'S Fortunate Otlice, 16, Corn hill, where Capital Prizes to a large amount h ave been .recently sold' in Sbare.-::-.0ny two more days to draw; and the — wlied contains three of 20,000 i. one of 10,0001- oie of 6;0001. time of 1,0001. Sze. Tuewlay will be the next Day of Drawing. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDG E TO-MOR. ROW Morning,-47 min, Aftet 6, j Afternoon, i min. after -. 1